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Action Research

A Guide for the Teacher Researcher


Fifth Edition

Geoffrey E. Mills

© 2014, 2011, 2007, 2003, 2000


Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-1
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
WEEK 16

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-2
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ongoing Analysis & Reflection

 Is your research question still


answerable and worth answering?
 Are your data collection techniques
catching the kind of data you want
and filtering out unwanted data?
 Conduct interim analysis
 Avoid premature action

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-3
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Analysis & Interpretation
 Data analysis
 summary of data
 technique determined by type of
data
 Data interpretation
 finding meaning in the data

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-4
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizing Qualitative Data
 Reading/Memoing
 record initial thoughts
 Describing
 include context, actions,
interactions
 Classifying
 develop themes

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-5
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Data Analysis Techniques
 Identify themes
 work inductively
 Code surveys, interviews,
questionnaires
 try to find patterns, meaning
 Analyze interviews
 annotate and identify themes
 Ask key questions

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-6
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Data Analysis Techniques
 Organizational review
 vision & mission, goals & objectives,
structure of organization, operation,
problems, issues, & concerns
 Develop a concept map
 Analyze antecedents, consequences
 identify causal relations

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-7
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Data Analysis Techniques
 Concept map

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-8
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Data Analysis Techniques
 Display findings
 matrixes, charts, concept maps,
graphs, figures, audiovisual media
 State what’s missing
 avoid making unwarranted assertions

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-9
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Choosing Analysis Software
 Are you analyzing large amounts of
data?
 Are you adequately trained?
 Do you have resources to purchase
a program?
 Do you plan to capture specific
quotes from a large database?

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-10
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Computer Software for Data
Analysis
 Handy, extremely fast labeling &
retrieval tools
 NVivo 9.0
complex data
 The Ethnograph v6
text files
 HyperRESEARCH 3.0
text, graphics, audio, video

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-11
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Preparing Quantitative Data
for Analysis
 Scoring procedures
 Tabulation and Coding Procedures

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-12
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Analyzing & Interpreting
Quantitative Data

 Descriptive statistics
 shorthand way of giving lots of
information about a range of
numbers
 count what counts!
 be careful not to over interpret

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-13
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Analyzing & Interpreting
Quantitative Data

 Descriptive statistics
 central tendency
mean (average)
median (middle)
mode (most frequent)
 variability
standard deviation (spread)

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-14
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Analysis in Mixed Methods
Designs
Types of Mixed Examples of Data Analysis and Data
Methods Designs Interpretation Techniques
Triangulation Quantify qualitative data coding and assigning a
number to a code and counting the number times
(quantitative and
qualitative data are it occurs. Quantitative data are descriptively
collected analyzed for frequency of occurrence. The two
data sets are compared.
simultaneously)
Explanatory Follow up on outliers. Quantitative data is
(quantitative data is collected and outliers (extreme cases) identified.
collected first followed Qualitative data is then collected on the outliers
to increase understanding of these cases.
by qualitative data)
Exploratory Qualitative data is collected and analyzed and
themes identified. The themes are used as the
(qualitative data is
basis for identifying, or developing, an instrument
collected first followed
that can be administered to collect quantitative
by quantitative data)
data to measure the identified themes.
Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-15
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Qualitative Data
Interpretation
 Extend the analysis
 raise questions
 note implications that might be
drawn, without actually drawing them
 Connect findings with personal
experience
 Seek advice of “critical” friends
 take time to build relationships

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-16
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Qualitative Data
Interpretation
 Contextualize findings in literature
 Turn to theory
 link to broader issues
 search for abstraction
 provide rationale, sense of meaning
 Know when to say “when”
 if you don’t feel comfortable offering
an interpretation, don’t!

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-17
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sharing Interpretations Wisely
 Connect interpretations closely to
data and analysis
 Avoid being evangelical

Mills
Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e 6-18
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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